1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to snow plows of the type that normally attach to the front of a truck or other vehicle and, more particularly, to a snow plow blocking unit for use in attaching and dismounting snow plows to trucks or vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Standard snow plows, such as the type used by highway maintenance crews, are rather cumbersome to attach to trucks or other vehicles (hereinafter referred to as "trucks"). Usually during the summer months these trucks carry asphalt, gravel or the like and during the winter months carry road salt and have snow plows attached thereto. Typically, each snow plow includes a snow plow blade and a snow plow push frame with the snow plow push frame being three or more feet wide and weighing several hundred pounds. To attach the snow plows at least two individuals are required to align and pin the snow plow with the front end of a truck. An additional person is then required to drive the truck. Back injuries are not an uncommon occurrence to the individuals who align these snow plows with their respective trucks, due to the lifting and moving of these heavy objects. Furthermore, such a procedure is rather time consuming and can require as much as 20-30 minutes to complete.
Accordingly, it is an object of our invention to provide a snow plow blocking unit that requires only one individual to attach a snow plow to a truck with a minimal amount of physical effort.
In an emergency situation, such as a sudden snow storm, this labor intensive operation of attaching the snow plow to a truck can delay a fleet of trucks from clearing the roads of snow since usually only a few individuals are available to attach the snow plows. Furthermore, these workmen tend to get fatigued as they continue to attach many of these snow plows in a short period of time. Thus, even though the drivers, the trucks, and the snow plows are available to clear the snow covered roads in an emergency situation, it will usually take several hours to attach the snow plows to all of the trucks.
Accordingly, it is a further object of our invention to provide a snow plow blocking unit which can quickly align a snow plow with a truck or other vehicle so that the snow plow can be attached thereto.
Prior inventions have attempted to aid in the attachment of a plow or similar attachment to a truck. One such method is to modify the plow and/or bracket which attaches to the truck, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,894 to St. Pierre, U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,893 to Torrey and U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,562 to Deen et al. Although such devices enable quick and easy attachment, special modifications are required to the plow and truck chassis and the plows must still be manually aligned as described above.
Another object of our invention is to provide a snow blocking unit which does not require any additional modification to the snow plow or truck so that the snow plow can quickly and easily be attached thereto.
Other prior inventions have utilized temporary vertically adjustable stands to support the plow or other implements at various elevations to ease in their attachment to a truck, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,980 to Kisaka. Even with such stands lateral adjustment and prior positioning of the vehicle is time consuming and typically will require two individuals to efficiently and quickly attach the plow or other implement to the truck.
It is a feature of our invention to position properly the truck with respect to the snow plow by the use of a wheel guide and wheel stop so that the snow plow can quickly and easily be attached to the truck.
Other objects of the invention together with the advantages which are pertinent thereto will appear during the course of the description.